Gender Equality Specialist - Socodevi

SOCODEVI contributes to improving the living conditions of communities by supporting the creation and strengthening of sustainable and inclusive cooperative or mutual companies.

Job Description

• Project management/Full time
• Experience Level: Senior Level
• Experience Length: 5 years
• Location: Kumasi, Ghana

Project Description

The TogetHER Project aims to empower women and young adults (18-30 years old) in rural cocoa-producing communities in the Ashanti and Western North regions of Ghana. Training and support will encourage collective savings, entrepreneurship, and financial inclusion while contributing to the sustainable resilience of the cocoa sector and the equal distribution of economic benefits and opportunities.

This project aims to reduce gender gaps in the cocoa sector and encourage resource flows at the community level so that cocoa cooperatives can become more inclusive, foster women and youth equal and effective participation, and truly sustain their empowerment. Through this project, SOCODEVI is leading the way in transforming existing cooperatives to be more inclusive and resilient in collaboration with all levels of government of Ghana.

Job Summary

Reporting to the Project Director and working closely with the Gender Equality team in SOCODEVI HQ, the Gender Equality Specialist will lead the Gender Pillar of SOCODEVI's TogetHER project. The Gender Equality Specialist will collaborate closely with the Department of Cooperatives, Ghana COCOBOD, and Cooperatives. The key responsibilities of the successful candidate will include but not limited to:

Capacity Building 

• Support the ongoing analysis of Ghana's gender equality (GE) context, specifically for the project's gender-based analysis; 
• Coordinate the development or updating of planning and monitoring and evaluation tools to ensure the integration of the project's GE approach; 
• Develop or adjust the GE content of training, coaching, awareness-raising, consultation programs, or other activities planned in the project;
• Supervise and train the GE facilitators;
• Implement project and institutional activities according to the participatory approaches recommended by SOCODEVI and integrating gender equality, environmental and climate change considerations; 
• Facilitate training or other activities related to gender equality according to the established planning; 
• Build and maintain good relations with all SOCODEVI staff; 
• Carry out working sessions with stakeholders in favor of the economic empowerment of women producers who are members of the supported cooperatives. 
• Contribute to the sensitization and training of men from the communities targeted by the project in terms of GE and according to a positive masculinities approach;
• Contribute to the coaching and training of village savings and loans associations (VSLAs) in order to connect them with relevant financial institutions;
• Contribute to analyzing the current state of existing financial products and services and to contribute to make them more accessible to the specific needs of women and young women, for example, according to their socio-economic situation and the sectors in which they intervene, and to promote their use by these women;
• Contribute to the increased access of women and young women of the project to the supported cooperatives and to their improved empowerment within the cocoa sector of the regions targeted by the project.

Coordination 

• Articulate and implement, in collaboration with the Head Office GE Advisor, the GE strategy within the project; 
• Plan and coordinate GE activities in collaboration with other project teams to ensure proper and continuous application of the project's GE approach; 
• Build and maintain strong relationships with partners and stakeholders (individual beneficiaries, operational partners and beneficiaries, SOCODEVI member institutions, etc.); 
• Ensure the achievement of GE results in collaboration with the country project managers, the GE advisor at headquarters and the project team members in the target regions, in the capital and in Canada; 
• Complete financial requests, terms of reference for GE activities and work plans for GE activities in coordination with other planned activities and key people involved.

Monitoring and evaluation and organizational learnings 

• In collaboration with the project's organizational development and agricultural risk management advisors, support and accompany the enterprises and organizations supported in strengthening their capacities to plan and implement measures that promote the full participation of women and young women in their organizations and that foster gender equality and inclusive development; 
• Accompany and advise the project team in monitoring results, indicators and GE targets; 
• Regularly monitor processes, particularly in relation to GE, to identify challenges and needs for adjustments; 
• Contribute to the drafting of various documents, ensuring that the results and challenges related to the implementation of the GE strategy are taken into consideration; 
• Contribute to the documentation of the learnings and innovations developed by SOCODEVI and its partners in the area of GE. 

Required Skills or Experience

• University degree in feminist studies, sociology, international development, social work or any other relevant field;
• A Master's Degree in any of the above relevant fields would be an asset.

Experience

• Proven experience in adult training (andragogy) and participatory methodologies in the field of GE; 
• Experience in training in GE or with organizations that incorporate GE in their approach; 
• Demonstrated experience in coordinating GE activities within a team;
• Experience advocating for the adaptation of credit mechanisms and financial services to the specific needs and strategic interests of women and young women producers;
• Experience in the implementation and strategic management of monitoring, evaluation and learning processes related to results-based management and feminist participatory approaches (an asset).

Number of years of experience 

• Minimum of 5 years of relevant experience in gender equality

Skills

• Good level of English;
• Proficiency in local languages is an asset; 
• Ability to lead a group; 
• Ability to communicate; 
• Ability to design and adapt training tools and capacity building programs; 
• Ability to work in a multidisciplinary team; 
• Ability to use participatory approaches; 
• Ability to analyze and synthesize;
• Ability to write;
• Ability to adapt to rudimentary working conditions during technical support in the field;
• Good understanding of socio-economic & socio-cultural issues and capacity of intervention in cocoa growing communities;
• Ability to work under pressure and deliver;
• Advanced computer skills (Windows, MS Office, Sharepoint);
• Ability to manage partnerships and relationships with peer organizations.

Knowledge 

• Knowledge of gender-based analysis tools;
• Knowledge of adult training (andragogy); 
• Knowledge of the cocoa sector and agricultural sectors in which women and young women producers are particularly involved;
• Knowledge of local credit mechanisms and other financial services;
• Knowledge of monitoring, evaluation and learning processes according to a participatory feminist approach (an asset);
• Knowledge of results-based management (an asset);  
• Knowledge of rural contexts;
• Knowledge of positive masculinities approaches (an asset);
• Knowledge of the cooperative model (an asset).

Qualities

• Versatility 
• Proactivity 
• Facilitation of groups 
• Leadership 
• Autonomy 
• Rigor 
• Creativity 
• Active listening 
• Negotiation 
• Conflict management 
• Interpersonal skills including adherence to values of equality and fairness
• Critical thinking